Report: League insiders expect 6-8 game suspension for Irsay

Posted by Michael David Smith on June 7, 2014, 12:51 PM EST

AP

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has not yet handed down discipline to Colts owner Jim Irsay, who was arrested and currently faces charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. But there’s an expectation around the league that when Goodell does act, he’ll suspend Irsay for about half a season.

That’s the word from Adam Schefter of ESPN, who reported that people around the league believe Goodell will give Irsay a suspension of six to eight games and a fine of about $1 million.

We still don’t know what a suspension of an owner would constitute. Would Irsay just be prevented from attending games? Would he be banned from the team facility throughout the suspension? If he’s suspended during a meeting of NFL owners, would the Colts lose their vote? Would the Colts lose their share of the league’s TV revenues from those six to eight weeks, just as players who are suspended lose their salaries for those weeks? Losing half a season’s worth of revenue would be a whole lot more than a $1 million fine. A $1 million fine is a rounding error to a billionaire like Irsay.

Whatever Goodell decides, it’s sure to be hotly debated around the NFL. And if Goodell doesn’t come down hard on Irsay, he’s sure to face harsh criticism from the players who say he seems a lot more eager to punish players than owners.

Do players get fined based on their net worth? Or what they earn on the field each year. We should keep perspective … he should be punished/fined as a first time offender. Just like the players would. BTW, would a player be suspended 6 – 8 games and be fined a million dollars for a first time offense? I think not. Except, maybe, murder. Then again, maybe not.

How about random drug testing him once a month or so like the players are subjected to when they have an offense on top of whatever other punishment is doled out? Then the next time he gets a year suspension. After that a lifetime ban.

The guy is an owner, the owner doesn’t get in trouble if he is late to the office. Get off it already, he can’t be treated like one of his own employees, and that’s what they are, not colleagues, JUST employees

Players and owners do not get treated the same, nor should they. Players are employees of an organization. Owners are a group of people in a partnership. If anyone should get upset by Irsay’s actions, it should be the owners because it could (hypothetically) be a detriment to their business.

Not sure how they could do anything to him. He is not an employee like the players are. He has signed no contract, so I do not know how the NFL thinks they have the power to do this.
I owned businesses for years, if a employee or a union tried to tell me how to live my life I would have thrown the union out and fired the employee.
This is putting too much power in the hands of Goodell, he needs to brought back down to earth.

C’mon! They are NOT going to lose their team vote or league revenue sharing. That’s not fair to the franchise. They will suspend him from ALL team activities during the offseason and probably 8 games during the season, plus the $1M fine.

The franchise should not get punished. This isn’t Spygate or Bountygate. This is an owner doing something wrong outside of the franchise, and the franchise did not “benefit” as it might have in a Spygate or Bountygate incident.

Irsay may be the CEO of the Colts, but the Colts are part of a greater partnership and brand, the NFL. To be a member of the patnership he has to follow the rules too. If anything, the owners should be held to a loftier standard if they expect their employees(the players) to follow the rules too.

“All persons associated with the NFL are required to avoid ‘conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the National Football League,’” the NFL’s personal conduct policy states. “This requirement applies to players, coaches, other team employees, owners, game officials, and all others privileged to work in the National Football League.”

Irsay broke that rule.

By the way, the Saints and Patriots were also punished for breaking the rules. They weren’t punished for gaining a competitive advantage. In the case of the Patriots, after completing his investigation, Goodell specifically said no competitive advantage was gained, for those of you that have forgotten or just refuse to beleive it.

Just because Goodell said it, that doesn’t mean it’s true. Goodell, you might remember, hurried up and destroyed the evidence. Why would the Patriots record other teams’ tendencies if not to gain a “competitive advantage”? Goodell made matters worse with his hurried “cover-up.”

Goodell destroyed the tapes after showing footage to the press at a press conference. There was nothing hurriedly covered up. Just wasn’t anything else to see. Walsh’s videos were not destroyed and still exist, although they do not include tapes of any walkthroughs or practices, according to Goodell. They were the same as the ones the Pats turned over.

A players smokes weed and gets banned for a season. An owner gets busted for DUI, having tons of pills in is possession, tens of thousands in cash, etc… and he gets 6-8 games. Makes perfect sense. That’s a totally balanced system run by a totally unbiased non-dictator.

No crazy fines. No crazy suspension. No loss of draft picks. I don’t think anyone should be punished at work for something they did during their off time, but if there is a punishment, it should be equal to a players punishment. He’s not paid to be a role model.

Take away the 1st round draft pick and the coaches, players and fans will be pissed by Irsay’s irresponsible actions. He will incur their collective wrath and maybe jolt him into realizing there are consequences. A 6 match suspension for Jim Irsay would be a joke.
Maybe Roger should call Adam Silver and ask him how he should handle it.

The only real punishment that the league could do to Irsay that would hurt his team in anyway. To make an example out of him besides getting rid of draft picks, which have been done before. Would be to lower to Colts salary cap for a season. A little extreme but they gotta do something. Cuz how you gonna suspend a owner from owning a team?

I think that this whole idea of fining an owner for something that had nothing to do with the team or the NFL is getting a little ridiculous. Irsay getting nailed for a DUI is not going to hurt the league or its image in any way. I think that unless the owner’s actions are related to the team and/or have some detrimental impact on the league, the league should not have any right to do anything to the owner. What’s next, trying to fine and suspend an owner for a lack of ethics or improper behavior in conducting their other business dealings. If they did that most of the owners would have to fined and suspended.

The NFL isn’t some moral bastion of American values,it’s money making entity that uses to passion of local areas who are seeking bragging rights over one another. Unless the athletes,owners and coaches are doing something that actually deals with the competition in the league,let the cops and the law deal with it. The league hasn’t lost any popularity through the actions of any of these guys. From multiple murderers,drug kingpins,repeated DUI offenders,weapons charges,you name it,they’ve done it and people don’t stop watching or attending. Heck,the NFL actually has records of dudes popping positive for “recreational” drugs and PEDs,but not a single DEA agent has rolled up into the league offices asking for names. If the local,state or federal authorities don’t care where these dudes are getting their weed or roids from, unless they get pulled over,then suspending guys for it is worthless. They don’t even rehab the guys,just tell them to stay away. If they feel so strong about it,turn over those records and let the law handle it. Jail time sounds more discouraging than sitting on the couch or vacationing in England while suspended.